HDB resale prices inch up 0.1% in August; volume drops 18.6%: SRX

RESALE prices of Housing Board flats rose 0.1 per cent in August from July, according to flash estimates released by real estate portal SRX Property on Thursday.

August is the first full month since surprise measures aimed at cooling the private residential market took effect in early July. But it is also traditionally a quieter month, as it coincides with the month-long Hungry Ghost Festival.

Prices in August have dipped 1.7 per cent from the same month last year, and are down 13.5 per cent since the peak in April 2013.

There was also a 18.6 per cent drop in the number of resale flats sold last month - to 2,076 units sold in August 2018 from 2,550 transacted units in July 2018.

On a month-on-month basis, last month's resale prices of HDB executive flats rose by 3.5 per cent. But three-room flats, four-room flats and five-room flats fell by 0.4 per cent, 0.2 per cent, and 0.1 per cent respectively.

In August, the overall median Transaction Over X-Value (TOX) remained at zero.

TOX measures whether buyers are overpaying or underpaying compared with SRX Property's computer-generated market value. It is the company's take on cash-over-valuation, the premium paid on a flat's expected value and which is no longer tracked by the Housing Board.

Flats in Kallang and Whampoa appeared to be in the highest demand, with a median TOX of S$14,000. Those in Punggol and Queenstown came next, at S$6,000.

In contrast, flats in Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh posted the lowest median TOX of negative S$7,000 and negative S$6,000 respectively.

THE STRAITS TIMES